


Toad Spawn

by Caticature



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe, Crack, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Dimension Travel, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Genius!Neville, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Minor Original Character(s), Misunderstandings, semi-serious crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-11 03:18:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12926208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caticature/pseuds/Caticature
Summary: Harry knew there was something strange about Neville's Toad.





	Toad Spawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried posting this in 'rich text' but kept getting empty paragraph spaces between my paragraphs. I'm quite new to Ao3 and couldn't find a fix for it. Help?

“Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville’s lost one.” Hermione asked in a bossy tone.

That moment right there, that seemingly un-important moment, led Harry to a life of suspicion through out his Hogwarts years. Looking back on it, it should have been a tender moment. 

Three best friends, meeting for the first time; sappy stuff, you know what I mean? But out of all the thoughts and first impressions a person can have in this instant, Harry’s first thought was;

‘How does someone lose a toad?’

It was a curious thought, a musing, if you will. Harry didn’t dwell on it long at that moment, the thought floating away quickly with everything going on. It wasn’t till Harry was settled in Hogwarts, Gryffindor House, when the thought resurfaced again.

Neville was always losing his toad. Everyone mostly chalked it up to Neville being extremely forgetful; but Harry knew better. While Neville was clumsy, he rarely ever made the same mistake twice. Watching him in class and sharing a dorm room made Harry realize this. 

Neville was the type of person who had to do it all the wrong ways first before he got it right. When he got it wrong, which was often, he would learn. After this discovery, a deep rooted suspicion planted itself in Harry’s mind. 

‘How does he keep losing that toad?’

His question was never answered in his first year, but in his free time he pondered. Neville always got so depressed when he lost his toad, so he must have learned (from his mistakes) how the toad kept getting away. Harry was doubtful the amphibian could have thought of a different getaway route each time. So, how was the toad escaping?

He really had no idea.

The whole thing with Quarrel and Voldemort blew over and Harry found himself in the library one evening. He was trying, and failing, to clear his head. Voldemort really shook him up and he needed a quite place to readjust himself. He sought peace and a clear head but got a distraction instead. 

His silence was cut by a croak. Looking over, he saw the toad, Trevor, sitting on top of an open book. They stared at each other, and Harry wondered why the library of all places, was where a toad wanted to be. Shuffling closer, Harry looked down to the book that was lying open. Squinting, Harry noticed runes covering the pages. 

Being raised by muggles meant Harry didn’t know to much about the magical realm but he did have a brief discussion about them with Hermione, who was already planning to take the class in their third year. 

“What do you need runes for, huh?” Harry asked the toad, mostly humoring himself that the toad would answer. Trevor croaked again. Harry raised an eyebrow, picked up the book, Trevor haltingly jumping off onto the desk, and skimmed the page. He barely understood any of it, only recognizing the heading for the chapter which was in English. 

It read; Time. 

Underneath were a whole bunch of swiggled circles that meant nothing to Harry. Sitting down, Harry flipped through the book; Trevor coming to hop on to his shoulder. Glancing at the toad on his shoulder, Harry noticed Trevor was looking at him as well. Rising to his feet and putting the book back on the shelf, Harry made his way out of the library. 

“Let’s get you back to Neville.”

Later that evening Harry asked Hermione if toads could read and Ron fell to the ground laughing his butt off. That irked him, if only a little, it wasn’t his fault he was ignorant! 

His second year passed in a blur, and being busy with “Salazars heir”, he hardly thought about Trevor much. The next year though, his third, he felt he had adjusted enough to the point where he could multitask through the chaos that was his life.

When Harry learned the shocking truth of what an animagus was, he confronted the toad called Trevor. Leaving his dormitory in the middle of the night Harry found Trevor sitting on one of the plush red arm chairs facing the fire in the common room. Harry sat in an armchair across and stared the toad down.

“I know what you are.” Harry said calmly. Trevor croaked innocently. Yeah, the conversation went no where. 

It took a week for Harry to track somebody down and teach him the spell to force an animagus transformation. It ended up being Snape, which was actually an interesting story; one that involved Fred and George, a rubber chicken, a real chicken and glitter, but that was a story for another day. 

Harry tried the spell on Trevor and, to his disappointment, nothing happened. Well, he didn’t really feel disappointment, per se. It was a relief to know that there wasn’t another disguised person creeping in the boy’s dormitory. Though, his failure in figuring out the darn toad made a screw loosen just a tad in Harry’s brain.

“Don’t pretend to be all innocent,” Harry hissed, “I will figure you out, and when I do there will be stuff going down.” Satisfied with the threat, Harry nodded and stalked away from the toad which let out a load croak. 

Fourth year was nuts with the Triwizard tournament and Voldemort returning so Harry skipped another year of his “toad paranoia”. But come his fifth year, he was ready. 

Fueled with bad dreams and teenage angst, Harry was prepared to unravel the mystery of Trevor. In his findings, he had reason to be suspicious of Neville also. Trevor continued to “sit” on the rune books in the library but one day Harry saw Neville himself also studying runes. A quick conversation with Hermione proved the Neville wasn’t even taking the class. Harry’s suspicion peaked. 

After Umbridge found out about their secret DA classes and Dumbledore was forced to leave the school Harry’s paranoia reached new grounds. He had to figure it out; he had enough to worry about with Voldemort and Umbridge running about. Harry briefly entertained the thought that Trevor was Umbridge’s great grandson (because of the family resemblance, of course) but quickly dismissed the thought as ludicrous. As far as he knew Neville was just a boy with his toad.

So “innocent”. 

Harry wasn’t buying it, he refused. He took to following Neville around in his invisibility cloak but Neville always seemed to lose him. It was like he knew he was there!! He was going to have to step it up a notch or else he would live forever with this mystery hanging over his head. Harry laughed evilly in his head.

“Um, Harry? Are you okay?”

Think of the devil and he shall appear; it was Neville! Harry gave a dashing smile and Neville nervously shuffled his feet.

“Why of course Nev, I’m smashing!” Harry was sure to not act suspicious, “is your –ehm- Toad with you?” He asked calmly his eyes darting towards Neville’s pockets in slight paranoia. Neville discreetly started to sweat and Harry straightened in alarm, eyes narrowing.

“Ah—I’ve lost him again Harry.” Neville said, his voice small. Harry glared before collapsing in a common room chair with flair and a dramatic groan. 

“Your toad ails me Neville!” Harry cried in agony, making many people look strangely at him. Neville stared concerned before approaching timidly and awkwardly patting Harry’s leg that was draped precariously over the arm of the chair. 

“Just let me know if you need to talk, okay, Harry?” Neville said with a hesitant smile before leaving the common room. Harry cracked one eye open and stared at all his house mates staring back. He slowly got up from his chair and walked in circles, burning holes into people’s backs, making them squirm.

“There’s something going on here.” Harry hissed, “…and I’m going to be the first person to figure it out!”

He stomped out of the common room and everyone stared at each other in bafflement. 

“Harry’s gone mad, I tell you! Maybe Voldemort really is back. The stress is getting to him!” Someone whispered, others humming in agreement. 

Later that month in the middle of the night Neville creeped out of bed, putting on his shoes and leaving the fifth year dormitory with a click. As soon as the door shut Harry’s head bounced off his pillow, both eyes twitching madly. 

All of those sleepless nights finally paid off! At last he caught Neville in his nefarious toad deeds! Harry stumbled out of his four poster bed and dug in his trunk for the maurders map and his invisibility cloak. 

He quickly threw on his cloak and activated the map, following after Neville; but not to close. Tonight was not the night to be discovered.

After following a ways, Harry decided to crouch behind a suit of armor and intently gaze at the map waiting for Neville to reach his final destination. As he watched, he noticed Neville going down a very familiar path. When the shy boy disappeared, Harry understood and a very muggle light bulb ‘pinged’ in his head. 

“Of course.” Harry breathed. Neville was a part of the DA!! He was using the room of requirement for his toad deeds!! The DA were no longer meeting there but that didn’t mean the room still couldn’t be changed and used. 

Harry raced to the entrance, tripping twice, making some hallway portraits screech in alarm. Soon enough, he was in front of the door; the non-door, soon-to-be-door….whatever! Outside there was an unconscious Filch who Umbridge ordered to guard the room though he wasn’t sure why she bothered. 

Harry paced back in forth like a mad man trying to think of what password Neville could possibly be using. He tried many, but to no avail. 

After five years of constant questions, Harry’s patience was running terribly thin. So thin, in fact, that he ceased to be logical about how he dealt with the current situation. He took to hitting the wall with his fists and throwing spells at it when he dared; never realizing he was trampling over poor Filch, who was still unconscious. 

About to resort to kicking Harry paused when he saw the door materializing. Knowing that his tantrum did nothing on his end he waited with bated breath. When the door cracked, Harry lunged, tackling Neville to the ground with a battle cry. They rolled across the ground, while Harry snarled and Neville screeched. 

After a short scuffle, Harry jumped off Neville and took in the room. There was a giant rune painted red in the center of the room; Trevor sitting right in the middle. Pointing with his finger at the guilty toad, Harry laughed;

“Hah! I knew it!” Harry spun around and pointed at Neville who lay, sprawled awkwardly, on the ground, “Hah! HAH!” 

He spun around and continued to stomp around the room screaming hah! at the top of his lungs while Neville stared off in horror and Trevor gazed at him unimpressed. 

“I knew there was something going on, and look what I find,” Harry crouched and pointed dramatically at the red rune,’ this!” 

“Harry, its not what it looks like!” Neville cried jumping to his feet and waving his arms earnestly trying to explain but his reasons were silenced when Trevor spoke. Harry spun around and stared bug eyed at the devious amphibian. 

“Don’t bother kid, there’s a high concentration off magic centered in his head, he’s probably possessed” Trevor’s voice was deep and gravely, and actually kind of manly. Harry glared fiercely;

“You’re the one possessed! Tell me, are you Voldemort? Is the back of someone’s head not good enough for you!” 

At this moment in time it never occurred to Harry that Voldemort wouldn’t need to posses a toad now that he had a body, so he continued to rant. In an effort to calm Harry down, Neville tried to grab Harry’s arm. Wrenching it away, Harry jerked away from Neville and glared. Backing away defensively he neared the rune and Neville’s eyes widened and he lunged, panicked;

“Wait, Harry!!”

Neville’s jerky movement, however, made Harry lurch back in alarm, doing exactly what Neville was trying to avoid. To make matters worse, Neville tripped, unintentionally tackling the both of them on to the giant red rune. Trevor gave a croaky yelp as the magic from the two collided onto the rune and they all vanished in a puff of smoke; two wands clattering to the floor. 

Deep in the dungeons, in the Slytherin fifth year dormitory, Draco Malfoy jolted awake. He suddenly remembered that he never took the paranoia charm off Harry Potter in their first year in revenge for his refusal of friendship. Sitting and drowsily pondering why this was coming to mind now, he rolled his eyes and drifted off to sleep; disappointed that spells like that wear off after a couple of hours.

Unless, of course, you’re a living horocrux…. then it tends to stick around for awhile and grow. Especially if the spell caster has good enough aim, or is extremely lucky, and gets you right where it resides. Malfoy would never know that he was the cause of Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom’s disappearance. 

Too bad. 

 

Mount Myoboku

 

When Trevor woke up he knew he was back home. He could instantly feel the nature chakra of Mount Myoboku flooding his system and he almost wept at the feeling. Returning to his toad body was, quite possibly, a miracle. While the ‘magic’ of the other world kept his other body alive, it barely did much else. That’s why he was forced to survive in such a little, pathetic form. 

Allowing his body to stretch out, he basked in the feeling of being filled to the brim with chakra. With a laugh he hopped up and bound in great leaps through the lush greenery of Mount Myoboku, reveling in the feeling of being his full size once again; which was about the height of a standard humans legs, ending at the waist.

He whooped as he sailed over a waterfall and cannoned balled into the water at the bottom. Swimming and enjoying himself under water he broke to the surface and made his way to land. 

Forcing himself to be serious, despite his ecstatic state, Trevor quickly ‘poofed’ away from the paradise that was his home and landed right in a mans lap. The man jerked at the intrusion, his lunch falling on the floor and splattering in his hair, much to his annoyance. 

In a white flash, Trevor was flung towards a wall, catching himself easily and landing with a spring on the floor. The air cackled intensely before calming when the white haired man recognized the toad. The mans eyes widened soon after and he exclaimed loudly;

“Kaeru?!”

“Yes, Jiraiya, it’s me.” The frog answered gruffly, his tone sounding both fond and annoyed at the same time. Jiraiya spluttered comically his eyes bugging out. Trevor could barely make out his sentences but he ultimately caught the jist. (ninja. seals. fight. explosion. alive?)

“Yes, you imbecile! I am alive! No thanks to your crappy excuse for a seal!”

Jiraiya continued to babble before his eyes narrowed slightly and he gasped indignantly; “My seals are perfect!” 

“Explain how I found myself in another dimension then!?” Trevor croaked in outrage, his chest straightening up. Jiraiya’s mouth fell open and he was left speechless before his eyes lit up and he shuffled through his pockets before procuring a notebook. Cracking it open he, shuffled the pages before stopping and preparing his pen, he stared at Trevor seriously;

“How very interesting. Do you think we could re-create that?” 

Trevor’s eye twitched furiously before his tongue flung out in a blur smacking the notebook out of Jiraiya’s hands, making it soar comically across the room. 

“This isn’t school! We have a serious problem on our hands!!” Trevor roared. Jiraiya sniffed, slightly miffed before crossing his arms seriously. 

“The only dimension type travel I have heard of is an eye technique from the Uchiha, and only a select few can use it…. if your telling the truth,” Jiraiya trailed off, his tone serious, before he gave Trevor a double thumbs up and smiled widely, “then that means I’m a freaking genius!” 

Jiraiya was toad tongue slapped for his insolence and Trevor yelled back bitingly;  
“It wasn’t genius if it was an accident moron!”

Jiraiya rubbed his slimy cheek, pouting and glaring at Trevor who stared back exasperated. The two glared at each other before their lips started twitching then busting up on loud guffaws of laughter.

Approaching Trevor, Jiraiya sat in a meditative position on the floor in front of the frog, their eyes level to one another. All frustration and anger washed away with their laughter and they smiled at each other.

“I’m sorry.” Jiraiya said and Trevor blinked in surprise, “I missed you. I thought you had died, I even went and apologized too Fukasaku and Gamamaru, I felt so horrible.”

Trevor closed his eyes and the both of them started channeling nature chakra between the other. Both of their shoulders un-tensed and they smiled over the familiarity of the bond that was still there.

“We were partners since you first became one with the toads on Mount Myoboku,” Trevor said his eyes bright, before chuckling and tilting his head curiously, “What did the Great and Honorable Geezer have to say about my ‘death’?”

Jiraiya’s lip twitched; “He was annoyingly cryptic as usual, but thinking back on it, that old sage probably knew you were still alive, that old coot.”

They both shared a laugh before the mood turned somber and Trevor began to explain his tale. He left out Neville for the moment and explained the other dimension the best he could.

“It was the strangest place, they had things similar to us…but things were so different ultimately that it was almost impossible to navigate myself. I eventually stumbled upon runes, which is basically the equivalent of seals here, if a tad different. It took about five years but I was finally able to construct a seal I felt happy with. I was lucky I had that canister of your blood for some of your more complicated techniques or else I would have had no connection with this world.”

Trevor paused for breath and Jiraiya looked impressed; “So you managed that? All by yourself? In such a tiny form?”

Trevor sighed and shook his head; “That’s what the emergency is. I made a friend and he helped me acquire a lot of the materials I needed. He helped me draw the seal, but then we were interrupted by his psycho friend, who was under a mind jutsu of some kind, and screwed everything up!”

Trevor groaned in annoyance, grumbling to himself. Jiraiya’s brow came together and he frowned; “If everything got messed up, why are you here, safe and sound?”

Trevor pondered for a moment; “We can only guess. The seal was anchored and drawn specifically for me. When they fell on the seal, their magic must have triggered it. I was probably safe because I was written so detailed into the seal, but anything could have happened to the two boys.”

Jiraiya blinked before cursing under his breath; “Boys?”

Trevor hung his head in shame; “I was at a school and I didn’t have very many resources. They were about fifteen years of age but they weren’t raised in a military country. They are basically children.”

The two fell in another somber silence. Jiraiya looked at his friend with sad eyes;  
“If they survived and were dropped someplace their as good as dead”

Trevor flinched and glared at Jiraiya, whose hands came up in surrender. Shaking his head slowly, Jiraiya sighed harshly; “Lots of things have changed since you were last here Kaeru. We are in the middle of an all out shinobi war.”

Trevor flew up in shock, clinging to the ceiling and looking down at Jiraiya in horror.

“What!?”

 

In An Unknown Location

 

When Harry became aware the first thing he noticed was his splitting head ache. The second thing he noticed, which considerably out weighed the other, was the complete and utter lack of magic. It was absent in himself, in the things around him, everywhere. 

His whole body shook at the feeling, his body reacting like a druggie who suddenly went cold turkey on drugs and was left suffering from the lack of substance. His mind was screaming at him that something was wrong wrong wrong WRONG! 

Shifting in out of consciousness, Harry could barely focus on any thing else but the lack of magic. The only thing he registered was the faint presence of somebody near before he was overcome and finally lost consciences.

His companion was very much in the same state as Harry, and he cried for an unrecognizable amount of time. Eventually though Neville woke up from his magic-less panic and righted himself. 

Looking over, he clearly saw another person lying sprawled in agony. He didn’t recognize the young boy, but with a jolt he did recognize something on the little boy’s forehead; a lightening bolt scar. 

Neville stared at the scar, his mind putting together torn apart pieces of knowledge that were barely fringing on the edges of his brain. Coming up with an answer to the current mess they found themselves, Neville nodded to himself….before curling up in a pitiful ball and remembering when everything in his life got mad.

It all started when Neville received his Hogwarts letter. Everyone came over to celebrate and with his birthday so close to the upcoming school year everyone brought presents. He enjoyed the time immensely, even if he was a bit bashful, but he thanked his family and all of his Grans friends. But his favorite gift came later, when his uncle came into town that weekend. 

With him he brought Trevor. Neville always wanted a toad. He knew they were old fashioned but he felt strangely attached to the strange amphibians and he was absolutely ecstatic when he got one to take to Hogwarts. 

Neville didn’t really have, well, friends; so he spent the weeks approaching term chatting the poor toad to death. It made him so happy, he knew he was probably being biased, but he swore Trevor actually paid attention and knew what he was saying. 

Neville felt as though Trevor and he forged a strong bond in those weeks before Hogwarts. But it all shattered when he actually got there and Trevor started disappearing. It didn’t take long for him to notice it wasn’t accidents on his part but Trevor was escaping on purpose. This made him fall in to a deep depression.

All the boys in his year paired off and he was left the third wheel with no friends. Hermione was nice to him but he was to shy to do much and once she started hanging with Ron and Harry he didn’t see her that often. One day he couldn’t take it and ditched class to cry in bed. He felt pathetic, he didn’t have friends and not even his pet toad wanted to be around him. 

That was how Trevor found Neville that day, sobbing into his pillow. The toad then decided he would do what he swore he wouldn’t; trust another with his secret.

That day is the day that Neville remembered as the day he gained a true friend. He didn’t care if his toad was from a different dimension and could talk. Actually, he thought that was pretty darn cool! 

The more Trevor told him about his world the cooler it became and Neville was astounded when Trevor told him what his actual size was. Plus, Ninja? Neville would sit in rapture every time Trevor got talking. 

But Neville was distracted from his memories with a troubled mumble. He glanced at the boy, who he assumed to be Harry, as he rolled over facing him. His eyes fluttered open and they stared at each other for a long time. 

Neville pondered what Trevor said about Harry being possessed and whatever it was still influenced him. The Harry now looked the calmest Neville had ever seen him, which was saying a lot, considering the circumstances. 

Harry gazed at the white haired boy before him without really seeing him. His mind and body was still adjusting to the change, and though his body still agonized at the lack of magic the one thing that startled him was how clear his head was. He felt like a giant handicap was removed from his mind and he was left scrambling with and wondering at why- why- why was his head so clear. 

Briefly he stared at the other boys moving lips but he heard no words. He tried to shake the feeling of the ringing in his ears and focus;

“---okay? Harry, it’s me Neville.” 

Harry blinked in response but gave no other indication that he understood. The white haired boy he was staring at sat up from his position on the floor and Harry shakily mirrored him. 

“Neville?” Harry’s voice cracked, the small pitch of his voice startling him but the thought was lost when the white haired boy nodded. Why did he look like that? Polyjuice potion? It was then that Harry was able to recognize his surroundings to the full extent. The first thing he registered was his robes, which were bringing back memories of having to wear Dudley’s cast offs. Bringing up his hands Harry blinked at the tiny things he was met with, opposed to his bigger hands. 

Unbeknown to Harry, Neville was doing the exact same thing. At the same time both of the boys raised their eyes and stared at each other in horror. 

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Harry and Neville screamed. Harry jumped to his feet;

“Why do we look like this?!”

Neville moved to stand up just like Harry but his foot caught in his to long robe and he tripped once again taking down Harry along side him. Thankfully there wasn’t a rune to fall on this time. Harry gasped having the air knocked out of him and started slapping Neville’s arm demanding him to ‘get off’. Neville rushed out apologizes and rolled off Harry.

“What happened? Neville, what was that rune for?” Harry said after catching his breath and sitting up annoyed. Neville whimpered and covered his eyes with his hands, not even bothering to get off the ground. 

“Trevor was stuck in another universe, our universe. I was helping him return to his own, when, well,” Neville sighed, defeated, turning too look at Harry as his eyes filled with frustrated tears. Harry blinked in shock, shaking his head in denial at the implications. 

“No, the rune just transported us to some forest. We need to get back to Hogwarts and they will fix us up.” Harry whispered

“Harry,” Neville turned towards Harry, voice broken, “magic’s gone.”

Harry’s heart fell all the way down to his stomach and he instantly felt sick. He could sense it, of course, but it was a different thing to hear it out loud. Instantly his hands started to shake and they came up and gripped at his hair. Falling back and joining Neville on the ground, he let out a sob. Neville reached out and grabbed Harry’s hand, squeezing it tight. 

Harry and Neville both cried on the forest floor. They cried over the lost of their magic, and the lost of their whole world. They fell asleep like that, holding hands in a tight iron grip, oblivious to everything around him.

When they woke several hours later it was dark. Despite having woken up and calmed down considerably, they never let go of the other. Neville whispered to Harry in hushed tones, explaining about ninja and the world they were in; both were scared out of their wits, jumping at shadows and flinching.   
The fact that there were super ninja everywhere and they didn’t even have their wands was terrifying. They hunched together in the shadow of a tree, when they heard the rustling of a bush.

Neville gripped Harry’s hand, making Harry hiss in pain, both jumping violently when an innocent cat sprang from the bushes. They both let out a long breath of relief, before Harry glared at the cat in annoyance. Bringing up his free hand he waved it violently at the cat.

“Shoo!” Harry hissed, “shooshooshooshoo.”

The cat sat impassively grooming itself and Harry grumbled in annoyance while Neville placated him in whispers. Their whispered conversation soon turned to their new looks and they both came to the startling conclusion that they looked very similar, almost identical. 

“It might have been a side effect of us….traveling?” Harry said, confused, his mind still befuddled about being in another dimension, while Neville shook his head.

“It couldn’t have, it can’t change things that aren’t there. Trevor was written very specifically in the rune, but we weren’t, and the last time I checked neither one of us had white hair.” Neville explained, “Just be happy we haven’t mixed with anything that was a part of Trevor.”

Harry shuddered imagining it, before glancing at the cat across from them; remembering Hermione’s unfortunate cat transformation while sniggering. Neville looked at him curiously and Harry found him telling about the espionage mission they went on in their second year. Soon they were both laughing and Neville was shaking his head in disbelief;

“Hermione helped? She was in on it? She turned into a humanoid cat?!”

Each question Neville posed was said with more incredibility than the last while Harry laughed, nodding his head and clutching his side; 

“Oh, yeah, you wouldn’t even believe some of the things we have convinced her to do over the years.” Harry chuckled before his mouth came down in a frown and he felt a pang of loss wondering if he would ever see his friends again.

Neville let out a surprised gasp, and Harry broke from his musings. Neville turned towards Harry with hope in his eyes;

“We are not completely helpless! Harry, Trevor taught me all about runes. They can protect us!” 

Harry blinked in surprise while Neville searched the pockets of his robes, muttering excitedly to himself. He eventually pulled out an ink well and a brush with a happy giggle, staring at Harry. Recognizing the look Harry’s eyes narrowed, it was the; “I’m a genius at herbology’ look. Though, in this case it was probably a; “be jealous, I’m a genius at runes too” look. 

Neville and Harry crawled out from behind the shadow of the tree and into the moonlight. Following Neville’s lead they both proceeded to take off their overly large robes and bed shirts. Neville then covered their arms and chests (and back in Harry’s case) with runes. Harry questioned Neville on why they couldn’t just make a giant seal to send them back home when Neville shook his head;

“That was super complicated, and if I messed up, it could cost us our lives.” 

Harry glanced at the runes covering his arms in alarm but allowed Neville to continue to draw them on the both of them. Neville worked till the sun started to rise and soon Harry and Neville had both of their overly large clothing on once again. 

“Okay, how do we use these runes then?” Harry asked, pushing back his sleeve and looking at the black swiggles up and down his arms. 

“Oh, you just activate them by channeling magic into them.” Neville said simply, before freezing, his eyes widening. Harry groaned and face palmed while Neville’s legs gave out and he fell helplessly to the floor whimpering.

“So they’re basically useless.” Harry said while Neville rolled around dramatically on the ground in affirmative. 

“All my hard work!” Neville complained, throwing his arm over his eyes. Harry shook his head in bemusement, not even finding it in himself to be annoyed or angry. Glancing at the sun getting progressively higher in the sky, Harry offered his hand to Neville. 

“We should get moving.” Harry said, looking around at the trees. Neville looked at Harry confused;

“And go where?” 

“Well it sounds like Trevor told you a lot about this world, don’t you know where we could go?” Harry questioned

“No, he forgot to give me a map.” Neville deadpanned, making Harry’s lip twitch. Rolling his eyes in good humor he gestured to the small clearing they appeared in;

“It wouldn’t make sense to stay here.” 

Neville bit his lip and shrugged in reply and they slowly made their way through the forest. 

 

Three Days Later, In Konoha

 

Hiruzen Sarutobi groaned and his head thunked down to his desk with a loud thump. If his Anbu guards were surprised, they gave no indication, standing rigidly. Slowly the Third Hokage brought his head up before banging it back down on his desk.

As always, his guards stood stoically. 

The older man groaned again, his hands coming up to grip his hair in frustration. He straightened up when he felt a familiar chakra approach and wound his fingers together. The chakra came closer, not even bothering to knock and threw the door open. Sarutobi's hand flew up and he waved at his Anbu guards and they flashed away. 

"Ah—Tsunade," The Third started before his sentence was cut off by a loud bang, Tsunade slamming down a file in her hands making the desk crack under the force. 

Crossing her arms and fuming, Tsunade scowled. Sarutobi let out a long breath, and gave the file a defeated look. "Do I even need to look at it?" he sighed, his fingers coming up and massaging the bridge of his nose. 

Tsunade growled; "What’s going to happen to those boys?" 

The Third Hokage sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and shook his head saying nothing. Tsunade snarled before pacing back and forth mumbling under her breath. They sat in silence for a long time; an old man contemplating and a woman striding around the room in agitation. 

They both froze when they felt a familiar presence approaching at a slow pace. Tsunade's eyebrow twitched and she cracked her knuckles threatening. The Third couldn't help another sigh that escaped; "Contain yourself, we need him alive." 

Tsunade looked as if her dreams had been crushed and spat on. The door finally opened and Jiraiya stepped out, his long white hair swinging along with his steps. He smiled "charmingly" at Tsunade, who hissed, and approached the Hokage's desk. Starting to sweat from the gaze getting burned into his back from the "princess", Jiraiya opened his mouth to speak when the third cut him off; 

"There is a hostage situation." 

Jiraiya straightened up all business, his eyes narrowing. If a village would risk this in the middle of a war, then that would mean this hostage was important. They wouldn't bother with it unless they thought it gave them leverage. 

"Who is it?" Much to Jiraiya's surprise the Third just shook his head and pushed the file on the desk towards him. Picking it up curiously Jiraiya flipped though the file. He was looking for any type of clan seals or names that popped out, seeing nothing. 

It wasn't till he stumbled upon some photographs did he pause. There were two photographs, of what seemed to be the same person but at a closer look, Jiraiya noticed they were twins. 

That wasn't what was so shocking though, it was the looks these two boys shared. White spiky hair sat atop their heads. Grey stormy eyes stared at him in shock and fear and what was even more telling was the red lining their eyes, coming down just a little like it did when he was a child himself. 

Suddenly Jiraiya's throat became very dry and swallowing was almost impossible. He flipped through the file looking for what he already knew was there. Finding it he saw the positive match and if possible, it became even harder to breath. 

Shakily he flipped back towards the photographs and pulled them out and put the folder back on the desk. Staring in shock at the two boys, children, Jiraiya felt his whole life shifting on its axis. 

He jumped at a touch on his shoulder and looked over to see Tsunade looking at him. Never in his life had he seen Tsunade look at him that way before. It wasn't in anger and annoyance, her eyes were soft, sorry. Jiraiya looked down at the Third pleadingly, but quickly looked away not liking the expression on the mans face. 

"Jiraiya," Sarutobi started softly, "So many lives have been lost in this war, and its finally drawing to a close, I can feel it." The Third slumped his shoulders carrying the weight of a war and the responsibility of hundreds of people. 

"We can't afford this right now." 

Jiraiya bit his bottom lip and felt his heart breaking for two boys he didn't even know. His boys. It was all his fault and suddenly Jiraiya found himself another purpose in life and it hurt more than anything to know that these boys might be dead before he even had the chance to meet them.

**Author's Note:**

> dun dun duhnnnnnn! Thanks for reading! What do you want to see in future chapters? I have a pretty good idea for where I'm taking this but if I really like an idea I'm not apposed to making little tweaks. R&R


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